Those who forecast shortages of primary-care physicians may be shortsighted, a group of academic researchers says in a Health Affairs report likely to stir controversy on a much-debated issue.

The hand-wringing about primary-care shortages is unwarranted if those making the predictions are basing their estimates on doctor-to-general-population ratios that don’t align with the productivity of a modern physician practice, researchers from the Columbia Business School in New York and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in Philadelphia said.